Draining Mud
by Conspiracies
Summary: Tim Smith isn't the brainless adolescent he appears to be. He isn't even close. And only one person can break him from his own internal torment. Tim/Lucas slash. -"Tim Smith is gay. He knows it and he hates himself for it."
1. Initiation

**Author's Note**: This is yet another new, underdeveloped story from a rookie. I honestly have no idea where my inspiration for this story comes from. There timeline for this episode should be an obvious one. I'll let you read through it to see. Meanwhile, be sure to enjoy the story.

**Disclaimer**: No, I do not own anything One Tree Hill related. If I were writing for One Tree Hill there would be a lot more male bonding... to say the least. Oh boy, don't I miss all the heavy male bonding scenes from seasons 1 & 2.

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Tim Smith.

Lucas Scott.

Two teenage boys living in Tree Hill, North Carolina but they come from completely different worlds.

Tim Smith is pretty short with an average build. His brown hair and bland brown eyes are undistinguished. Yet, there's a small, remarkable quality to his features that makes him stand above your average joe.

Lucas Scott is tall, dark, and handsome. Albeit, being a bit scrawny, he's an Adonis in every sense of the word. His defined muscle tone and washboard abs compensates for his lean figure. He has blond hair, blue eyes, and amazing facial bone structure from the forehead down to his jaw line. He's damn near perfect.

And for the life of himself, Tim Smith could never figure out why Lucas Scott was never one of the "popular kids".

There was nothing he hated more than the superficial instincts that the kids in high school live by. Of course, this secret disdain for the inherent aptitude of high school made him a hypocrite. Tim Smith walked among the popular crowd and he did it just as well as his peers. He'd stomp viciously when approaching a social reject and he'd use any opportunity he can to haze an easy victim.

Lucas Scott was among one of the victims.

It was only a half-hour ago when Tim's best friend, Nathan Scott, lead the basketball team into a plague against his illegitimate half-brother, Lucas. Tim, alongside the basketball team, kidnapped Lucas with a bag over his head and a rope to restrain his hands behind his back. They threw him in a puddle of mud and laughed at his humiliation. Then, after hearing Nathan speak some incriminating words to Lucas, they hopped back into the van and left Lucas behind.

Tim watched the streetlights zoom past him and his eyes were focused on the passing road in front him. He'd driven down the path to the mud location so many times before. Usually, it was a place of initiation for a newcomer on the basketball team. They'd throw him in the mud, laugh at him, and then go out for pizza in a public diner where the muddy dupe would receive unwanted stares from other customers.

This time, it was different. There was no initiation. Instead, the blonde-haired victim got a guarantee that the hazing has only begun if he doesn't quit the basketball team.

Tim had finally made it to the location. That was the fastest he'd ever made it there. He took a gander outside the passenger window in hopes that Lucas Scott was still there. He was. He sat on the curb with his muddy hoodie still on his body.

"Get in, Scott." Tim ordered.

"Why would I do that? Just so you and the others can harass me some more?" he retorted.

Tim quickly noticed the small shutters in his voice and the visibility of his breath.

"It's just me. I'm not going to do anything to you," Lucas snorted as Tim finished the sentence. "I promise."

He clenched his jaws a bit and dropped his tensing shoulders considerably. Tim let out a breath of relief as he can see Lucas dropping his guard. But Lucas refused to move. He looked behind himself and then he looked back at Tim.

"You can either trust me or freeze your ass off, Luke. What'll it be?"

At that last statement, Lucas took a deep sigh and got inside the car. Tim didn't speak a word and Lucas was just as mute. Lucas's eyes were focused on the passing images outside the passenger's window and Tim's were focused on the road.

"Where are you taking me?" Lucas questioned without turning to face Tim.

"I'm taking you home." Lucas turned to looked at Tim quizzically. "To _your_ home." Tim added in correction.

"Nathan didn't put you up to this?"

"Why would Nathan ask me to help you. He hates you." Tim blurted out without thinking. He glanced over at Lucas who swallowed a lump in his throat at the thought. "Look, I didn't me-"

"Third question." Lucas interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"Why'd you help me?"

Tim grew completely silent and struck at the question. His neck was stiffened on the road and he didn't dare to look towards Lucas. He could feel the patience of the blonde-haired Scott brother growing shorter by the second.

"Why?" he repeated

Tim actually did have a pretty good reason as to why he helped Lucas. But he knew that any excuse other than the truth wouldn't be convincing enough. He wasn't ready to admit to truth. Not to himself and especially not to Lucas.

"Trust me when I say that you don't want to know." he answered truthfully.

Lucas nodded and exhaled. He slouched into the leather seats of the car and closed his eyes as his head fell back against the headrest.

Tim couldn't help but continuously glance over at Lucas. His eyes were completely off focus on the road as the Scott brother sat beside him with his eyes closed. Tim swallowed the air in his mouth and tried his best to focus on the road but his eyes kept shifting back to Lucas.

The entire journey to Lucas's house was drove in silence. Tim looked out the window and Lucas's home and shifted back to the sleeping Scott brother.

"Lucas?" he called out.

Lucas didn't budge. Tim called his name one more time but there was still no reaction. Tim leaned over in his chair and gave Lucas a small nudge on his shoulder.

"Yeah?"

Lucas speaking with his closed eyes shocked Tim a little bit. "We're here." he told him.

Lucas opened his eyes and saw his house outside the car window. He shook his head lightly to wake himself up and continued to sit in the car for a short moment. Tim cleared his throat to neutralize the silence and Lucas shuffled in the leather seating.

"What does this mean?" Lucas queried out loud. "About us?"

Tim was ready to ignore the question and change the subject but he wanted the same answers that Lucas requested.

"I don't know." he answered.

"Does this change anything between us?"

"I don't know." Tim answered yet again.

"Are we ever going to talk about this?"

"I don't know."

"What do you know?" Lucas scowled at Tim with short patience.

Tim dropped his head. "I honestly don't know."

If only Lucas knew how true that sentence was. Tim, over the past few years, have been battling with himself and his desires. Just the thought of the Scott brother surfaced a part of Tim he hated about himself. Even in his dimwitted facade he had a hard time hiding that part of himself.

Tim Smith is gay. He knows it and he _hates_ himself for it.

"Thanks." Lucas muttered after Tim's short silence of wallowing self-pity.

He opened the car door and started walking to his porch. After a short moment of getting the key into the slot and opening the door, he turned back to Tim and lifted his hand in a motionless wave. Tim returned the gesture before putting the gear into drive and heading off to his own home.

That night he laid in bed looking up at his ceiling. Back in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, he would often look up at his ceiling and think about things. The last time he did that was before he moved to Tree Hill. He was thinking about how much things were going to change and how much he was going to miss his life in Charlotte.

History repeats itself tonight. Tim Smith shuts his eyes automatically after a long, constant glare at the white ceiling above him and only one phrase continues to repeat in his head.

"Everything is going to change."

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**A/N**: I'm still a newbie author and I'd appreciate any constructive criticism. I accept anonymous reviews and everything.


	2. Chemistry

**Author's Note**: Yay, new chapter! Hope ya enjoy!

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Tim Smith sucked air through his teeth as he approached the school building cautiously. He wanted nothing more than to slow down and give himself a minute or two but he couldn't because Nathan Scott was walking beside him with his basketball in one arm and his girlfriend, Peyton Sawyer, in the other.

Tim couldn't face Lucas. Not with Nathan right beside him. Nathan Scott was his best friend, scratch that, his only friend and he didn't even bother to tell him about his little rescue mission last night. He wanted nothing more than to see Lucas in the hallways and explain himself but he knows he can never justify talking to Lucas. Nathan would never forgive him for that.

Tim slowly crossed paths with a two people whom he tormented in the past. When their eyes locked they dropped their heads into their shoulders and scurried past him quickly. Nathan lavished the idea of people fearing him as he walked the halls and even though Tim tried his best to mimic Nathan's reaction, he could feel his stomach gut itself when he saw the scared faces of his schoolmates.

"Dude, isn't that the guy who's ass we beat the other week?" Nathan said as he pointed to one of them. Peyton noticeable rolled her eyes and Tim nearly shifted at the question.

Nathan wasn't surprised that Tim ignored the question. He noticed Tim was also a little iffy when it comes to talking about people who they ridiculed. When everyone was laughing about the prank they pulled on Lucas last night Tim was just sitting back and looking through the window. And when he did speak, he said something random about a hot girl whom he saw walking down the street.

"What's wrong, man? You've been so quiet all day." Nathan asked.

Tim looked up at him and shook his head. "Nothing, dawg." He answered as he put on his gangbanging demeanor. "I've just been thinking a lot these days."

"Tim Scott is thinking? Alert the media!" Peyton joked with her arms wrapped around Nathan's.

Nathan laughed a bit and Tim forced himself to laugh along. He knows that it's only his own fault that they think of him as a brainless imbecile but he can't fathom how they never even give him the benefit of the doubt sometimes. He was never so sure that his disguise was well enough but his peers always comfort his doubts.

"I have a brain and sometimes I like to use it." Tim replied, purposely putting on an inarticulate tone.

"Yeah… right." Nathan answered with a scoff.

Nathan and Peyton laughed a little more while Tim childishly folded his arms and pouted. Despite the fact that he wondered if he was believable, there were moments where he'd give himself a mental pat on the back. This was one of those moments.

Tim had a casual conversation with himself while Nathan and Peyton gave the school hallways a nice showcase of PDA. Nathan's basketball buddies rooted and howled as they passed by the wall-pinned couple while Peyton's cheerleadering buddies did what they do best. Brooke was among one of the cheearleading buddies and Tim made sure she didn't past his sight without a little playful flirting on his part. Brooke probably wasn't aware of it, but she entertained him more times than not.

Most of the time when Nathan and Peyton would make-out in the company of Tim he'd put his head down unnoticeably. Nobody could ever see how he'd always look away in those moments. He was happy for Nathan that he got a girl he cared for but most times he'd wish that he was the guy everyone was passing by with a wolf whistle escaping their lips. But no one in that school would appreciate him for what he truly was. So he hid his true self because of that.

As he entered Chemistry class he noticed that Nathan was in there. He turned around to look for Peyton and she was gone too. He really couldn't understand why he was so shocked. This wouldn't be the first time Nathan and Peyton snuck off school grounds because their hormones got the best of them. There was one specific guy in class though…

Lucas Scott.

Tim watched him across the classroom carefully. He didn't want anyone to see him mindlessly staring at Lucas. Especially Lucas himself. He shifted his eyes from his books to Lucas sporadically. The entire time he paid no attention to the teacher. Not until she said two specific words:

"Tim Smith… you're with Lucas Scott."

He had to double-check his hearing.

"Who?"

The teacher pointed to Lucas and gave a reassuring grin. Tim shook his hand understandably and looked across the class at him. Lucas was looking back at him. Tim studied his face to find his reaction. He didn't seem upset or disappointed. Any other person he'd ever been paired with would always follow with an aggravated sigh or an angry rant. Apparently, no one likes being paired with "the dummy."

The time went by in class and everyone was sitting in their assigned group tables. Tim and Lucas kept a fair distance in their seats. Tim avoided close eye contact with him and spent more of the time reading the measurements for the assignment.

"I saw you in the hall earlier, Tim," Lucas let out.

"Huh?"

"with Peyton and Nathan."

Tim shrugged it off carelessly. He had no idea what point Lucas was trying to get at.

"Look… I don't know why you do that thing you do but I jus-"

Tim cut him off abruptly. "The thing that I do? What are you talking about, Scott?"

"You know…" he paused. Tim was honestly puzzled. "The way you _act_, Tim. You act like an idiot when you're not. And don't tell me you are because I know you're not. I've noticed for a while but last night confirmed it for me. So, why do you do it?"

Tim's skin turned red in his cheeks. He could feel the blood rushing into his brain and those chemicals unbalancing themselves inside his skull.

"You've noticed for a while?" Tim asked casually as calm as he possibly can.

Lucas put his head down. "Yeah…" he answered lowly. "Answer my question."

Tim grinned a small, unnoticeable grin. Lucas was giving him the 10th degree but all he could think about was the fact that Lucas was on his train of thought before last night.

"I just… I want Nathan to like me."

Lucas raised an eyebrow.

"Not like that. I just want him to like me as a friend." Tim swallowed a lump in his throat and waited for Lucas to ask him to continue. Sure enough, Lucas nodded his head in a gesture. "When I moved to town, Nathan was the only guy who would befriend me." Lucas's eyebrows frowned in misunderstanding. "I've learned in Charlotte that people are a lot more welcoming when they feel superior so I figured-"

"That the best way to keep Nathan as your best friend would be to make yourself dumb." Lucas finished the sentence for him.

Tim nodded in agreement. "Plus, I find that people learn not to take the things you say and do seriously." He added.

"So, you're scared to express yourself?" Lucas asked.

"No, I'm not scared. I'd just rather not."

Lucas nodded his head a few times and Tim was shocked by his reaction. "I understand that." Lucas empathized.

Tim looked over at Lucas and gave him a teeth-bearing beam.

The rest of the day for Tim was not as notable as Chemistry class. He shared no other class with Lucas and Nathan was gone so he spent most of the day alone. He hated the thought of being alone in theory but he definitely didn't mind his alone time to reflect on current situations. In this case, Lucas Scott.

As he walked down the parking lot he noticed Nathan's car. He saw Nathan standing beside it with coke bottle in his hand.

"Nate, what are you doing here?" he asked in shock as he approached the car.

"You didn't think I'd forget to pick you up, huh?"

Tim pounded fists with Nathan and turned before entering the car. He saw -- standing in front the school building – Lucas. Lucas fidgeted a bit before giving him a small, subtle wave. Tim Smith, standing next to Nathan, had no idea how he was going to return the gesture.

Nathan Scott hates his brother and Tim knows as well as anyone that his friendship with Nathan would be doomed the minute he picks up his hand. With no other thoughts, he decided to turn around abruptly without looking back. Ever.

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**A/N**: Sorry peeps but I had to go for the angst ending. I'll make up for it next chapter. Remember to leave a review. kisses


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